Chapter 607 - Chapter 607: 381. Food chain of city number 10
Chapter 607: 381. Food chain of city number 10
“If only I could never see those Living Hades again,”
that was the greatest wish of Li Menglin after emerging from that hellish place of Intelligence Department One.
To make this wish come true, he even thought about waiting by his window for a shooting star.
It wasn’t that Li Menglin still naively believed that a shooting star could really fulfill wishes.
But he knew very well that as long as he was still living in City 10, within the Federation, that wish could never come true.
So he could only turn to metaphysics.
These days, Li Menglin would pick up the phone with a tremble in his heart, fearing that it was from Intelligence Department One, summoning him to report back.
Fortunately, that group of Living Hades seemed to have forgotten about him; as long as he reported punctually on the corporate vehicles entering and exiting City 10 daily, no one bothered him actively.
That allowed Li Menglin to breathe a sigh of relief.
Just when he thought his life was returning to tranquility, he unexpectedly encountered that Yama here.
Was this Yama here for his daughter? No, with Song Niannian around, his daughter wasn’t relevant.
Though Li Zhaoen was also quite attractive, scoring 80 out of 100, she seemed dim beside Song Niannian.
Li Menglin pondered wildly.
And those celebrities, including his daughter Li Zhaoen, were just staring at Li Menglin in shock at this moment.
Because this usually prestigious immigration official appeared so meek and cautious in front of the young man, he even stammered.
What kind of scenes had Li Zhaoen grown up seeing at home? They were of others lining up to ask her father for favors.
Now, she finally saw her father’s humble side.
Li Zhaoen looked at Qing Chen, clearly recognizing him as a formidable senior official within the Federation.
It wasn’t just Li Zhaoen who was emotionally stirred, so were everyone else including Song Niannian, whose views of Qing Chen changed significantly after experiencing despair, rescue, and a turnaround.
They understood that celebrities, after all, were merely celebrities, and it was these powerful elites who truly controlled life and death within the Federation.
Qing Chen glanced at Li Menglin and said indifferently, “I am here because there are human traffickers from the black market targeting your daughter and her friends. I’ve been tracking them for a long time and have finally caught them today.”
“What?” Li Menglin hadn’t expected this to be the situation; only then did he shift his gaze away from Qing Chen, and noticed that his daughter and the celebrities were all restraint by finger locks.
On the ground lay two middle-aged men, collapsed and unable to flee due to their femurs broken by Qing Chen.
The scene was right here, with seven witnesses present, and the facts were right before their eyes.
Li Menglin first directed his men to unlock the finger locks for the celebrities, prioritizing their liberation over his distress for his daughter.
He gently inquired about the incident from his daughter.
Qing Chen waited quietly, and soon, just as they had unlocked the finger locks for everyone, intense footsteps were heard outside again, causing everyone inside to tense up, fearing the companions of the middle-aged men had come for a rescue.
Only Qing Chen remained calm.
The next moment, Yang Xuyang from Intelligence Department One, Team seven, arrived with more than twenty brothers.
Those twenty-odd people entered the room and immediately surrounded Qing Chen, forcing Li Menglin, Li Zhaoen, and others back into a corner with their handguns, safeguarding only Qing Chen.
This scene was so shocking that it left Li Menglin and others a bit at a loss.
“Boss, we’re here,” Yang Xuyang said in a low voice, “Should we take all these people back?”
Actually, Yang Xuyang was already heading home for a shift break after everyone had worked overtime for ten days, all eager to rest well and spend some time with their spouses.
But as soon as he heard that the Inspector had trouble, Yang Xuyang immediately came with more than twenty brothers, without uttering unnecessary words.
This was the influence Qing Chen now wielded within Intelligence Department One.
Intelligence Department One, Team seven, should be considered as Qing Chen’s first direct command unit in the real sense.
Qing Chen looked at Yang Xuyang, “The two on the floor are human traffickers from the black market, the rest are hostages. You handle the rest. There are seven more people in the parking lot, remember to take them all back to Intelligence Department One. I want them alive, be careful that someone may kill them to silence them during the transport, and after you get them back to Intelligence Department One, I’ll give you three days. I want to know who their clients were, how many clients have been involved. Yang Xuyang, your important task next is to dig out all these scumbags who buy and sell people as slaves,” Qing Chen ordered.
Yang Xuyang, feeling a surge of motivation, stood up straight, and declared loudly, “Guaranteed to complete the mission!”
Qing Chen then turned to Li Menglin and said indifferently, “You don’t even know that your own daughter’s phone was tapped. Come to Intelligence Department One tomorrow, I’ll have someone arrange some basic counter-surveillance training for you.”
Having arranged everything, Qing Chen then turned and left.
The others in the room watched him go, with Yang Xuyang and the fearsome detectives following the young man.
Qing Chen didn’t take the opportunity to deepen his relationship with Song Niannian nor did he make any demands on the celebrities, as if this young man had just saved some insignificant people, performing a trivial act.
The celebrities watched Qing Chen’s departing figure, thinking, this was Song Niannian after all, could he be completely ignoring her?!
Li Zhaoen rubbed her fingers and stood up. She looked at Li Menglin, “Dad, who exactly was that person just now?”
Li Menglin glanced at his daughter and then at Song Niannian, “That’s the new Trainee Inspector from Intelligence Department One. Do you know how many people he has captured recently? There have been rumors recently in the ‘frontline’ about many officials disappearing mysteriously; those were the ones he took, and those he captured hardly ever come out again. Keep your distance from him. He’s a real beast within the Federation, a significant power of Qing’s Family.”
Li Zhaoen thought to himself, no wonder his father was so courteous to this man, he was a big shot in the Qing’s Family!
She whispered, “He looks so young.”
“What do you know,” Li Menglin said irritably, “In the consortium, the younger the person in power, the more it shows his limitless future, and someday he will become a major power within the consortium.”
Li Menglin was a man willing to latch onto important figures, but Li Zhaoen was his precious daughter, and he did not want his daughter to get involved with such a dangerous character.
He suddenly looked towards Song Niannian, only to see her thoughtful, gazing at the now empty doorway.
Li Menglin always felt that tonight’s events were not so simple.
Outside the hallway, Qing Chen handed his personal belongings from his room to Yang Xuyang.
Yang Xuyang was stunned, “Boss, you’re staying here too?”
“Hmm,” Qing Chen responded expressionlessly.
“Then why are you taking so many things, you’re not planning to move into our Intelligence Department One, are you?” Yang Xuyang wondered.
Qing Chen glanced at him, “We still have a lot of work to do, you might rest, but I can’t.”
Yang Xuyang suddenly felt moved, “Boss, you work too hard.”
In fact, Qing Chen’s insistence on staying in Intelligence Department One was purely because he did not want to see Song Niannian again, it was too awkward.
Although he had patched himself up quite a bit, that girl, if she were not a fool, would sooner or later figure a lot of things out.
Qing Chen planned to stay in Intelligence Department One for a while, then move to the third district house that Li Xiurui had bought for him, thus he would no longer have any interaction with Song Niannian.
“By the way, how are things going with Qing Hua,” Qing Chen asked.
“Don’t worry, Trainee Inspector Qing Hua is an experienced intelligence officer, nothing will go wrong on his end,” Yang Xuyang said cautiously.
“That’s good,” Qing Chen nodded.
Yang Xuyang continued, “Are you really going to investigate the mastermind behind the sale of stars, you know, whoever bought Song Niannian must hold a particularly high status.”
Qing Chen looked at Yang Xuyang, “I know you mean well, concerned about me getting involved in any dangers, but is there anyone with a status higher than Shadow? Don’t worry, if there’s something I can’t handle, Mr. Shadow will step in.”
Qing Chen thought, Shadow had played so many jokes on him, making some trouble for Shadow shouldn’t be too much, right?
Yang Xuyang’s attitude became even more humble, realizing that his boss was a direct subordinate of Mr. Shadow, that was even better.
…
…
At this moment, Qing Hua was idly wandering on the bustling streets of the fifth district.
He sensed that someone was following him, but he did not care.
Tonight, many people from Intelligence Department One had gone home to rest, but Qing Hua had not rested because Qing Chen had given him an important task… to wait for Jindai or Deer Island to make a deal.
Team seven of Intelligence Department One had been hanging a whiteboard at the entrance on the third floor for seven days, and Qing Chen had been arresting people for seven days.
Qing Hua had once told the young Inspector that it seemed Jindai and Deer Island were probably not going to come for the deal.
But Qing Chen had said, if they are not willing to trade, that means we haven’t caught anyone important enough yet.
So the operation must continue until we catch someone important enough to force them to trade.
Two days ago, Qing Hua’s team finally caught a core member of the Jindai family, whose father was one of the key representatives of the Jindai family in city number 10 and an important senator.
This kind of senator must care about his reputation; if his son was tainted, it would surely reduce the trust the public had in him, so he could not just watch his son go to prison and do nothing.
Logically speaking, the senator’s son had been very cautious, but he had unfortunately encountered Qing Chen.
This was Qing Chen’s plan, I catch someone important enough to you, then force you to trade with me.
This was an open strategy.
What Qing Hua did not know was that it wasn’t just Jindai’s people following him.
Further away, a man dressed in black, Mr. Shadow, stood on the rooftop of a building, standing among the clouds observing the operation.
Shadow was very interested in the operation Qing Chen had arranged, as he also thought it would be interesting to see the Jindai family being forced to break their alliance with Deer Island at Intelligence Department One.
Then, on the rooftop, a person standing respectfully behind Shadow spoke softly, “Mr. Shadow, the person who bought Song Niannian is likely a power player from the Chen Clan. If we really drag them out, it could have severe repercussions.”
Shadow laughed and said, “What’s there to fear, am I not still here? Do you know why, when you release a wild tiger into the forest, it will quickly eat every animal in the forest, everything it can? Do you know why it does that?”
The person behind him was taken aback, “Sir, I don’t know.”
Shadow smiled, “Because it needs to understand where it stands in the food chain, what it can touch, and what it can’t. Do you think Qing Chen is being reckless? Actually, what he is doing now is no different from that tiger released into the forest, he wants to know how much I am willing to do for him, and where he stands in the food chain.”
…
The Internet Conference has started, I’ll update this chapter with my phone before I go up to speak, and write the second chapter tonight.
Source: Webnovel.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co